AN EXAMINATION OF THE DOCTRINE OF ENDLESS PUNISHMENT. ITS CLAIMS TO DIVINE ORIGIN REFUTED, IN A SERIES OF LECTURES BY REV. I. D. WILLIAMSON. CINCINNATI: PUBLISHED BY JOHN A. GURLEY. BT 837 •W7 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by JOHN A. GURLEY, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the District of Ohio. 1116 105 AN EXAMINATION OF THE DOCTRINE OF ENDLESS PUNISHMENT. SERMON I. SPIRIT OF THE DOCTRINE. "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." 1 John, iv: 1. It is scarcely necessary to observe that there are, in the world, many different and even contradictory doctrines, claiming the name of Christianity. The text would seem to indicate, very plainly, that it is the duty of the Christian to examine all doctrines, for the purpose of determining whether they are, or are not, of God. It is the object of the present, and it will be the design of some subsequent lectures, to discharge this duty so far as the doctrine of endless misery is concerned. I may perhaps be allowed to say in the outset, without incurring the charge of egotism, that I was formerly a believer in that doctrine. The creed that contained it was rocked in my cradle with me, and it was most sedulously taught me "from my youth up." Against all my early impressions, and the strong prejudices |